U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday the unfolding housing crisis posed a significant risk to the economy, calling for aggressive action to deal with it.
The government and the financial industry should provide immediate help for homeowners trying to refinance current mortgages before they are reset at much higher rates, said Paulson in a speech at Georgetown University's law school.
"Let me be clear, despite strong economic fundamentals, the housing decline is still unfolding, and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy," he said.
"The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth," he added.
The once-sizzling U.S. housing market has cooled significantly since last year. Falling housing prices and rising interest rates have made many borrowers hard to pay loans in time.
Home foreclosures are rising sharply, especially on subprime loans granted to people with weak credit histories.
According to the secretary, 2 million adjustable-rate loans will be reset to higher rates in the next 18 months, and it was unclear how many of those might put homeowners in jeopardy of foreclosure.
Efforts are being made in the public and private sectors to help homeowners avoid the loss of their properties, but more needs to be done to avert a future crisis, Paulson said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article